Thousands of students of the Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, on Tuesday, took to the streets to protest the prolonged strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) of the institution.

The local chapter of ASUP has been on strike for the past one month, paralyzing academic activities in the institution.

Aggrieved students poured out from their hostels, blocked major entrances to the polytechnic, and chanted protest songs, demanding an immediate resumption of normal academic activities in the school.

The students defied the early morning rain, as they displayed placards with inscriptions like: “Call off the Strike now,” “The Strike is Sponsored by Kawu Boys”, “Remove Kawu now or Blood will Flow”, “One Week Warning Strike now One Month Old”, among others.

The spokesman of the protesting students, Azoba Ekene Solomon of Mass Communication Department, lamented that the strike came shortly after the COVID-19 lockdown, thereby further interrupting the academic calendar which had suffered because of the Coronavirus pandemic. He said it has been a frustrating experience for students and demanded an end to the industrial action.

A cross section of the students called on the Federal Government to as matter of urgency, remove the council chairman of the institution, Kale Kawu, noting that his leadership style has destroyed the peace of the institution.

The students wondered why Kawu was reappointed to the council as chairman after the former council where he played a controversial role as a member was dissolved in 2019.

The Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Francisca Nwafulugo, appealed to the students to remain calm, noting that issues of contention between ASUP and the school management were gradually being resolved. She said the management has resolved all pending issues, except arrears of allowances for excess workload, which has been a national issue, not peculiar to the institution alone.

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She assured the students that the Committee of Federal Rectors (COFER) has taken up the issue with the Federal Government and promised the protesting students that the polytechnic leadership was working tirelessly to bring the striking lecturers back to the classroom. 

The rector however, directed that academic activities should commence on Monday next week, 30th August 2021.

The protest came barely few days after the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) demanded the removal of Kawu. In a letter to the Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), dated August 9, 2021, signed by the National PRO, Victor Ezenagu, the students decried “the high handedness and abuse of office” by the new chairman, who was also a member of the controversial council dissolved in 2019.

NANS said students of the polytechnic have been subjected to unending suffering, following the friction emanating from the chairman’s overbearing interference in the daily affairs of the polytechnic, which led to the stagnation of academic activities for the past three month.

“As we write, the polytechnic academic staff are on strike and it is prominently alleged that the Mr. Kawu instigated the current strike action by the local chapter of ASUP through his foot soldiers”, the group alleged.

NANS alleged that the achievements recorded in the institution were being eroded by the return of impunity, with some lecturers harassing and extorting money from students for marks.

The group further threatened to mobilize 14 million students nationwide to shut down Okopoly if the federal government fails to heed the cries of the students by removing the council chairman to restore sanity in the institution.

Efforts to get Kawu’s reactions were not successful as his mobile phone numbers were not reachable.

Vanguard News Nigeria